Art of mounting photo-engraving plates



N H. J. COLEMAN ART OF IOUNTING PHOTO ENGRAVING PLATES Filed Aug. 20. 1926 INV ENTOR flarzyffilemarz.

ATT QRNE'Y Patented Oct. 9, 1928.

UNITED STATES I PA ENT 'F HARRY .r. COLEMAN, or IELHAM, NEW. YORK.

ART or MOUNTING rHo'ro-ENGRAvING PLATES.

Application filed August 20, 1926. Serial N0. 130,440.

This invention relates to the art of mountmg photoengravlng plates, more particularly as distinguished from the mounting of moving the blocks when the chase is locked up, or even when the plate and block have been surrounded 1n the chase by the column rules, type, furmture,'leads, or the llk8,SO

that the printing form is complete for use except for the fact thatit haslnot been locked up. The usual practice in; the printing art in. attaching photo-engraving outsto the base block is, as follows; The" picture or the like which is to be photo-engraved to produce a cut, is formed on the surface of' the printing plate in well known manner, and the plate stock on which the photo-engraving is produced is larger than the ultimate printing plate, so that it "is necessary to run the large stock through a beveling machine which reduces and cuts down the thickness of the plate just up to the lines around "thecutwhich are to form the printing margin around the cut. The reduced portions of the plate are then out off at three sides of the cut and at'hin flange or portion left, at the top of the. out, which top flange is outside the printin margin of the cut. .113 has been cus to'm'ary to drive tacks through thisthin top flange and into the base block which is to support the out. The required base block is of soft metal in order that the tacks may be driven into it, and of course such bloc-kmust be of the same area as the printing. plate which is imposed on and tacked to it. The

parts of the plate stock which are removed as stated from three sides of the cut constitute waste metal. Sometimes cement is substituted for tucks, but whether tacks or cement is employed considerable time is wasted in tacking or cementing the plates to.

their bases,as well as in removing the plates.

The principal objects of the presentinvem tion is to anchor photo-engraving cuts into a form of type through the medium of a simple piece of type furniture, which, is a separate and independent unit from the base or block upon which the photo-engraving out is carried, such piece of type furniture being provided with a groove or the like into which a right angle flange on the photoengraving cut may be inserted, such right angle flange being preferably produced by bending back flange which is now ordinarily attached or cemented direct to the base block; Through such means various advantages are gained in the photo-engraving artin particular, and

they will be foundmost' useful in newspaper p cture production or any processwhere the cuts and type are prepared for matrices, in-

asmuch as the requirement that the photoing or cementing is eliminated. Another advantage is that it is possible-to eliminate the use of softlead bases, and the present at right angles to the back of the cut the engravings be fasteneol to their bases bytack i l i improvements will provide a means of seouring the photo-engravingsto steel or. other hard metal bases.

g H Furthermore, the present invention will prove to be a great time saver,

as cuts can be clamped into'position inthe I form without lossof time, and they are ready from the engravers, with the elimination of the time and labor of tackingor cementing.

for thematrix as'soonas they are'delivered Under the present invention the advantage is r also gained that the reduced right angle flange at the top ofthe. out will serve the the cuts when they areplaced' into position in purpose ofobtainingperfect alinement for the form, and also speed will be gained in 'interchan in cuts from one base to another a n V g g in make-overs.

With the above general objectsand advantages in view, my invention consists of certain features in the novel method and certain features in the means which will be herein.-

- after specifically described and then claimed with reference to the accompanying drawings illustratinga desirable embodiment of the invention, inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a plan ofa'photo-engraved plate which has been putthrough a beveling or planing machine .to reduce it at the four sides of the out andto definetheprinting margin of the cut in the usual way";

' Fig. '2 is'a perspective view ofthephoto engraving plate after three sides have. been cut off to leave a single topflange;

Fig. 3 is a similar perspect ve view in Which the reduced top flange isgshown as bent backwardly at right anglestO the printspl I T Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a base block and a grooved pieceof furniture or supple-- mental base block applied tothe end thereof 'Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional view illusblock.

flange 14, Fig. '2.-

Referring to Fig. 1, the photo-engraved metal plate 10 appears in the usual form as when it has been grooved or beveled at four sides of the photo-engraved cut to produce reduced edge portions 11, the grooving and beveling producing grooves 12, the inner edges 13 of wh-ichdeflne the printing margin surrounding the out. This is the usual way in which photo-engraved plates are prepared preliminarily to their being mounted on their bases, and one step of t e present new method takes advantage of this old preliminary preparation. y

The platelOthen has its reduced edge portions 11 at three sides cut off as waste, so as to perfect the corresponding printing margin of the cut, but the top reduced portionis left and remains as a relatively thin Ordinarily tacks are driven through this flange 14 and into a lead base or it is cemented to the base or other- Wise secured, but under the present invention the reduced flange 1 1 is bent back- War'dly, as in Fig. 3., so as to provide a rightangled back-flange 15. Preferably the baclc.

Wardly bent flange 15 is approximately onehalf inch ac'ross .its shortest dimension.

Under the present invention a steel or other hard metal base block 16 may be employed on which to mount the ph0toengraved cut, but/this block is somewhat shorter than the length of the lead blocks customarily employed, because it is not intended to nor can the photo-engraved out be tacked to such hard metal block. The length of the base block 16 to afford sufiicient length of area to properly support the photo-engraved printing plate 10, 15, is extended under the present invention by the use of a simple piece of type furniture 17 (see Fig. 4), constituting a supplemental or auxiliary base block, and the furniture 17 is of the same height or depth as thebase block 16 so thatwhen it is set up in a chase with the base block their upper surfaces will be flush with each other. Furthermore, the length of the simple piece of furniture 17 corresponds with the width of the base block 16, but it' can be made of any desired material or metaland does not have to be of the same metal as the base block 16. The improved piece of furniture 17 is provided with a longitudinal rabbet groove 18 at its upper outer corner with respect to the base block, and this groove is relatively deep as compared with its dimension at right angles to its depth.

The method of use of the means herein described and illustrated, so far as not described, is as follows: a

The base block 16 and the pieceof furniture or auxiliarybase block 17 are placed in the desired position in the chase, and type 19, 20 together with the column rules, leads,

uoins etc. are arranged in the chase around the members 16, 17 in the usual manner customar in newsoa Jer work ust as if the J l l 7 1 members 16, 17 were one base member.

There will then be forn'ied between the rabbet roove 18 in the niece of furniture 17 andthe ad-jacentwall o'f'the line of type or allel with the base block '16 and the piece of furniture 17, and the flange 15 is brought substantially in registration witht-he pocket formed at the recess 18, and the flange'is then moved under slight pressure into the pocket or recess untilitsedge rests uponthe shoulder formed at the bottom of the'rabbet groove 18, the body of the plate 10 being 1 then supported upon the block 16 and the oiece of furniture or auxiliary block 17.

referably the gage of the thickness and the length of the flange 15 are such that itre quires slight pressure to engage'said flange in the pocket or recess. In this manner, the photo-engraving plate 10 is firmly-and securely supported upon the foundation provided by the block 16 and the. piece of furniture or auxiliary block 17, and in thetu'se of the form the flange 15 cannot move out of the pocket or recess provided for it. To withdraw the plate 10 it is necessary to draw the flange l5 vertically out of the pocket or recess in the form, a slight pull being necessary, when the form is locked up. The flange 15 being cutthe full Width of the base block, is kept from sliding laterally by the column rules or other type make-up;

It is obvious that the invention may be applied in job printing oflices which make use of flat presses for commercial printing, and the plate 10 and its back flange 15 may be applied. to the form before the type and other matter are lockedup; and obviously the invention may be otherwise utilized and modified without departing from the spirit thereof as expressed in the scope of the ape pended claims. I

What I claim as new is:

1. The 'hereiddescribed method of preparing and mounting photo-engravings, which comprises etching a metal plate to forma cut, forming a relativelythin flange onthe plate at the top of the cut in removing all other Waste metalbeyond the edges of the cut to leave the finished photo-engraving, bending the flange back, where it joins the cut, at right angles to the back of the cut, providing a base-block and a longitudinally rabbet-grooved strip-like piece of furniture of same height and length as the width of the base-block, tting the ungrooved high side of the piece of furniture to the top edge of the base-block, setting up inthe form the type and furniture which is to adjoin the base-block and said strip-like piece of furniture, thereby providing a groove be-' tween the setup matter and the strip-like piece of furniture, and inserting the flange of the cut into the groove by mcrinq the cut directly toward and parallel with the set up matter.

2. The herein-described method of preparing and mounting photo-engravings, which comprises etching a metal plate to form a cut, forming a relatively thin flange on the plate at the top of the cut in removing all other waste metal beyond the edges of furniture in which the groove is approxi mately as thin as the flange of the cut, fitting the ungrooved high side of the sald piece of furniture to the top edge of the base-block, setting up in the form the type and furniture which is to enclose the baseblock and said strip-like piece of furniture, thereby providing a groove between the set up matter and the strip-like piece of furniture, locking up the form thereby defining a groov'ewhich is adapted to obtain a friction lit of said flange therein and movingthe out directly towards and parallel with the set up matter with vthe flange in registration with saidgroove, and forcibly pushing said flange into said groove while the form is locked. V r y HARRY J. COLEMAN. 

